Tom Perkinson

Butterfly

1974

Tom Perkinson, born in Indiana in 1940, has become distinguished as a regional painter, known for his work grounded in the visually dramatic landscape of the Southwest. As a child, Perkinson discovered he had a love for the natural landscape and a talent for art. He fostered that talent through classes at the John Herron Art Institute in Indianapolis and then at the Chicago Art Academy upon graduating from high school. He received a degree in art from Oklahoma Baptist University in 1964, before moving on to graduate school at the University of New Mexico. Here, he continued to paint the landscape and it was this work that began to reflect a new fascination with the Southwest. He had found what would become an infinite source of inspiration. Influenced by early painters of the southern Indiana landscape, painters like T. C. Steele, Vawter, Schultze and Forsythe, Perkinson’s early work focused on landscape, still life and city scenes. As his love of the New Mexico landscape grew, his work matured, finding influence in J.M.W. Turner, George Inness and James Mcneill Whistler. Soon, a distinctive, sprung-from-the-imagination style he came to describe as romantic realism began evolving. “None of these places exist”, he says, “I just make them up as I paint them." It was this preference for spontaneity that led to watercolor as his preferred medium. After more than four decades now as an artist painting New Mexico, Perkinson has built a prolific career. His work is included in private and public collections across the globe and he is represented in the collections of many museums, including the Museum of New Mexico in Santa Fe, the University Art Museum in Albuquerque and the Eiteljorg Museum of Western Art in Indianapolis. His work is also included in the May 2006 book titled Landscapes of New Mexico, Paintings From the Land of Enchantment. He currently resides in Corrales, New Mexico, where he has lived for 20 years with his wife, renowned jewelry artist Louise Perkinson.